SAVE AS

Save the date: Thursday, March 20, 2025 / RÉSERVEZ LA DATE : LE JEUDI 20 MARS 2025

Arts Court Theatre, Ottawa / Cour des Arts Théâtre, Ottawa

The Future of Restoring, Preserving, Distributing and Exhibiting Heritage Cinema

The International Film Festival of Ottawa (IFFO) presents SAVE AS, a symposium exploring Canadian and international efforts to preserve, promote, and, most importantly, distribute and exhibit Canada’s and the world’s cinematic heritage. An ongoing and key part of IFFO’s celebration of Canadian and world cinema is its one-day annual conference, SAVE AS, dedicated to examining issues of preservation, restoration, distribution, and exhibition of the always-endangered world cinema heritage. SAVE AS consists of expert panel discussions, case studies of restored cinema classics, and special public screenings of those restored classic films. At IFFO, we are committed to cinema’s past as well as its present and future.

PRÉSERVER, DISTRIBUER ET FAIRE DÉCOUVRIR : LE FUTUR DU PATRIMOINE CINÉMATOGRAPHIQUE CANADIEN

Le Festival international du film d’Ottawa (IFFO) présente SAVE AS, un symposium qui explore les efforts au pays et à l’international visant à préserver, promouvoir, et surtout, distribuer et exposer le patrimoine cinématographique canadien et mondial. Un élément clé et continu de la célébration du cinéma canadien et mondial par l’IFFO est sa conférence annuelle d’une journée, SAVE AS, consacrée à l’examen des questions de préservation, de restauration, de distribution et d’exposition du patrimoine cinématographique mondial, toujours en danger. SAVE AS comprend des tables rondes d'experts, des études de cas de classiques du cinéma restaurés et des projections publiques spéciales de ces films classiques restaurés. Chez IFFO, nous nous engageons envers le passé du cinéma ainsi que son présent et son avenir.

Lors de notre édition inaugurale en 2022, nous nous sommes principalement concentrés sur ce qui se passe au Canada et en France. En 2023, nous avons examiné ce qui se passe dans ces domaines à travers l'Amérique du Nord et nous nous sommes particulièrement concentrés sur ce qui se passe en Afrique, passé, présent et futur. Ces deux années ont été soutenues par Téléfilm Canada à titre de commanditaire principal.

En 2025, nous invitons à nouveau à Ottawa plusieurs professionnels de renom qui travaillent de manière importante et passionnante à la préservation et à la présentation du patrimoine cinématographique canadien et mondial.

Previous Editions / Éditions précédentes :

On Thursday, March 10, 2022, IFFO with Telefilm and the French Embassy in Canada presented the inaugural SAVE AS symposium in Ottawa.  With the support of Telefilm Canada, SAVE AS returned on Thursday, March 9, 2023, to highlight Canadian cinema restoration efforts.  Guests at SAVE AS 2023 included award-winning filmmaker Patricia Rozema to present a case study of the 4K restoration of her iconic film When Night is Falling (1995) and award-winning director Ron Mann who discussed the process behind restoring the new 4K version of Guy Maddin’s Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988).  IFFO is honoured to have screened both films as part of IFFO programming that year. 

On Thursday, March 21st, 2024, SAVE AS 2024 kicked off with opening remarks by Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) who highlighted the valuable work is done in the state-of-the-art facility located in Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River from the nation’s capital. Up next was the International Spotlight: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, featuring the Cineteca’s Head of Research & Special Projects, Cecilia Cenciarelli. In partnership with the Embassy of Italy in Ottawa, Aboubakar Sanogo, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Carleton University, and Cenciarelli, highlighted the world-renowned Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, a world leader in the fields of preservation and restoration of some of the most important works in cinema history. It was a revealing, admirable, and entertaining conversation that IFFO was proud to present.  After lunch, guests were treated to an intimate and interactive examination of how Winnipeg film artist Guy Maddin’s second feature film, Archangel (1990), came to be restored. The interview with Maddin was conducted by Canadian Film Institute Executive Director Tom McSorley and examined clips and various artifacts of the restoration process. Archangel (1990) was screened as part of IFFO programming Guy Maddin was in attendance.

In partnership with the Canadian Media Producers Association, LGBT Purge Fund and Fasken, IFFO presented the Ottawa premiere screening and an in-depth case study of the newly digitally restored Canadian historical drama The Wars. The case study of The Wars explored the original production and the film’s state-of-the-art digital restoration, commissioned by the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada, and undertaken by the NFB in 2023. Pat Ferns, Executive Producer of The Wars; Steve Hallé, the NFB’s Director of Technical Resources; and Jean LeClerc (Captain Taffler in The Wars) were interviewed by Programming Specialist Paulina Abarca-Cantin. Abarca-Cantin’s efforts over two years unearthed the film’s present-day rights and material assets for the film’s restoration. 

On Friday, March 22nd, 2024, SAVE AS pass holders joined together for a special guided tour of the Library and Archives Canada’s Gatineau location, where Canada’s audio-visual heritage is restored and preserved.

Le jeudi 10 mars 2022, IFFO, Téléfilm et l’Ambassade de France au Canada ont présenté le symposium inaugural SAVE AS à Ottawa. Avec le soutien de Téléfilm Canada, SAVE AS est revenu le jeudi 9 mars 2023 pour souligner les efforts de restauration du cinéma canadien. Parmi les invités de SAVE AS 2023 figuraient la cinéaste primée Patricia Rozema qui a présenté une étude de cas de la restauration 4K de son film emblématique When Night is Falling (1995) et le réalisateur primé Ron Mann qui a discuté du processus de restauration de la nouvelle version 4K de Tales from the Gimli Hospital de Guy Maddin (1988). IFFO est honoré d'avoir projeté les deux films dans le cadre de la programmation de IFFO cette année-là.